A third string "C" Film Noir that actually may be the best of the Carney based Film Noir. As much as I like Nightmare Alley (1947), this carnival film never leaves the midway much like Todd Browning's Freaks (1932). It's a great capture of the gritty atmosphere of a traveling carnival of tent and plywood, lit by strings of bare light bulbs. Victor Lukens cinematographer, creates a gritty claustrophobic carny setting, with convoluted passageways between tents, the midway, plywood arcades, cramped backstage warrens, along with trailers, and other equipment. Most of the cast are playing carnies, Charles Bolender shines as the Carney Boss Blake, a cigar chomping little person who runs the show. Bolender deploys great ways of evening the keel whenever he has to deal with other people often ending up higher and looking down on them. Veteran actor Frank Albertson (Mantrap, Nightfall, Physco, Shed No Tears, They Mane Me A Killer, It's A Wonderful Life) plays the local cop Hank on carnival duty. Harry Banister a early TV vet plays the local corrupt politician Reeves. Veteran TV Western Actor Richard Coogan (Vice Raid) is Bill Martin, a falsely accused of murder reporter who takes refuge at the carnival. Rosemary Pettit (Walk East On Beacon) plays Janet his girl who gives off a Gene Tierney vibe. She is forced to hide out with a chorus of carnival strippers, the de-facto "Girl On The Run" mothered by veteran early TV actress Edith King (Calcutta). Pettit is great as the good girl who has to be a quick study learning how to jiggle along with the rest of the strippers. Rounding out the rest of the cast John Krollers and other un-credited actors play carnival barkers, you can see a bit of Phil Silvers, or Bud Abbott in the parts, for all I know I wouldn't be surprised if they were real carnival barkers. A shout out to Renee de Milo (her only credit) where ever she may be, she plays the headliner stripper Gigi. She does a complete dance and is so good at it that I suspect that she was an actual carnival stripper. She does her act without removing her bikini type costume but she's got the moves down that you can easily imagine what she'd display. Check out Carnival Strippers - Early Years (1971-1978) by Susan Meiselas for a reference work. The film also has an early Steve McQueen as an extra. The score is carnival music inter-spaced with jazz for the dance routines. This low budget Noir delivers, I go as high as a 6.5-7/10. If it did have A list actors for the two lovers, and say Bud Abbott or Phil Silvers as the barkers it could have been an 8/10.

GIRL ON THE RUN is actually a young couple on the lam from a phony murder rap who hide out in a two-bit carnival run by a cigar-chomping midget who looks a bit like Jack LaRue, she as a midway "chorine" and he as a boxing shill. The story takes place over the course of a night and I wasn't too sure what was going on other than the place being the nexus of local political corruption involving the murder of a "vice crusading" editor or somesuch. It's the kind of movie where the walls shake when a door slams but although it's far from THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, it's not without its tawdry charms, especially the less-than-lovely kooch dancers who have no business being on stage (although Renee De Milo was oddly fascinating) and they're on stage often. The only cast members I recognized were Frank Albertson as a sideshow barker and an uncredited Steve McQueen in among the carnival "crowd". I'm predisposed to "carny noir" however threadbare it may be so you reely can't go by me.

Carny noir concerns 1950's vice rackets. The basic mystery is "Who killed George" but there are a lot of noir type character relationships intertwined in the story. It is tough and cheap, fitting to the 1950's carny world.Rosemary Petit is svelte and effective and appears to be a legit b-film actress. On the opposite end of the film babe spectrum is French tart Renee De Milo who believe me still delivers plenty of va-voom to the screen after all these years. While by no means great, "Girl on the Run" is a hard boiled film that held my attention. Noir enthusiasts will need this in their collection.Extras on the Alpha DVD include a goofy trailer for "The Girl in Gold Boots" which extols that "for Buzz, the answer was a gun!" and also some other cheesy stuff.

You've heard of "The Young and the Restless" and its follow-up, "The Bold and the Beautiful". There have been movies like "The Proud and the Profaine" and "Rich, Young and Pretty". Now meet the carny girls of this second rate traveling tent show. They could be called "The Fat and the Frisky". These porky hoochy-cooch dancers look like they haven't seen a vegetable in years, living off of cotton candy and fried dough with cinnamon on top. So when "Girl on the Run" (Rosemary Pettit) joins their line-up while hiding from the cops, it is obvious just from her petite figure that she isn't one of them. Even headliner Gigi (Renee De Milo) seems to have forgotten that dancing requires exercise. But I digress.That was my first of many laughs at this Z- programmer, certainly not worthy of any big city release, and possibly too trashy for the sticks. Pettit and her reporter boyfriend (Richard Coogan) are on the run from the police after he has been wrongfully accused of murdering his boss. A mysterious man named Clay Reeves (Harry Bannister) is stalking them, and his motives seem definitely suspicious. The fun starts in the carny girls trailer when Pettit is rescued by the blowzy Edith King who gets some really fascinating film noir lines, telling someone aiding her after being shot, "I was used as target practice", and later on, "I made friends with a bullet". She is definitely the scene-stealer in this movie, sort of a 50's Marie Dressler with a bit of Thelma Ritter thrown in. The scenes between her and "little person" boss Charles Bolender (who actually seems six feet tall while running the carny) are truly touching.For a film with a $1.95 budget, it really is inventive in many aspects, and while it isn't up there with the legendary film noirs, it is almost equivalent to low-budget classics like "Detour" and "Decoy" which have become cult classics. There are certainly many moments that are extremely laughable, but in retrospect, I have to say I thoroughly had a good time watching it. I just can't raise its rating that I gave based on the fact that it is low-budget trash, more pulp novel than film noir, and seems to have been inspired by pulp noir book covers.